The First Bulgarian State in Historical Memory of the Byzantine Rule and the Second Bulgarian Tsardom

This thesis deals with the historical memory in the context of Bulgarian medieval history. Its main objective is to evaluate the role played by the historical memory of the first Bulgarian state in the period of Byzantine domination and the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the first part of this work the current view of the Bulgarian historiography on this topic is critically reviewed. A section, which focuses on historical memory during period of the Byzantine rule aims to assess how and in what form could the historical memory of the First Bulgarian state preserve. It tries to describe this memory as a dynamic process. It aims at the causes that led to the gradual disintegration of historical memory after the end of the First Bulgarian State, such as the decay of higher domestic political elites and loss center. It also analyzes the factors that helped to store memory about the state. In the third part of the thesis deals with the way how was the historical memory of the first Bulgarian state treated in the Second Bulgarian Empire. It examines the way in which historical memory has been used to legitimize the very existence of the Second Bulgarian State. It also describes on the basis of contemporary sources the scope and knowledge of the history of the First Bulgarian State in the Second Bulgarian..